Cancer.

I am pretty over cancer.

Let's do a rundown:

• My brother is cancer-free yet had to have a surgery that forever negatively impacted his life. 
• My aunt was dead within a month of her diagnosis this past September. 
• My grandmother presently has cancer. 
• Learned last week that a dear friend also has cancer. In her lifetime she has lost a baby, had another son get cancer, only to lose that son to murder. Her son was one of my dearest friends and I can't imagine the grief she has endured in her lifetime. 

So, yeah, I am over cancer. I feel overwhelmed today. 

"Just"

So, here are a few things I believe about prayer:

1. There is nothing we can say that God doesn't already know. 
2. A prayer doesn't have to be long. In fact, I have heard good arguments for why they should not be long. There are books on the subject, etc. 
3. It's OK to pray for a long time because prayer should be a part of your relationship and therefore say what you need to say. 
4. God hears every prayer. Every single one of them, big or small. 
5. Your prayers matter to God!!

I have noticed that many, many people use the word "just" while praying. I am not judging their prayers but I find it curious. An example would be, "I just want to lift So-and-So up to you in prayer." "I just want to ask for your guidance, Lord."

Specifically, I am referring to when the word "just" is used as an adverb. See the meaning?

adverb

12. only or merely: He was just a clerk until he became ambitious.

 

I don't like it. No prayer is "just" a prayer. A prayer is a petition. It is important. It rubs me the wrong way when people use "just" in prayer because I feel like it cheapens what they're saying. 

 

And there's nothing cheap about prayer! I guess I just have to get over it because it is a very common thing to do. 

 

 

Busy Boy!

My kid has a much more active social life than I ever imagined. Before he was born I told myself I wouldn't over-schedule him and wear him out. But now that he is here, I never want him to miss out on anything fun. If we sit home all day he goes off the rails with boredom. He isn't in school yet so I feel an obligation of sorts to ensure he has fun stuff to do.

I really overdid it this week, but not for him, for me. My body is so sore I can barely move! As a consequence of our busy days, he has not napped all week so we have butted heads quite a bit, but one pre-birth promise I have actually kept is that our lives would not revolve around napping. We are definitely flexible!

Here is an exhausting run down:

Monday - Gymnastics followed by lunch with friends. Then we visited family and ran errands.

Tuesday - We went to Toddler Tuesday at the aquarium followed by lunch and shopping.

Wednesday - Kindermusik class and errands.

Thursday - Kindermusik class, lunch with friends, errands.

Friday - Disney on Ice,  visit to Gas Monkey Garage,  lunch at restaurant of same name, visit to my mom's office, errands, out to eat for dinner.

Saturday - Easter event that included face painting, bounce house humping, train riding, egg hunting, waiting for a balloon animal, meeting the Easter bunny and playing at the park where the event was located. Then we ran more errands. Today I was also not lazy (for once) and cleaned out his closet and did a bunch of laundry.

I feel like death and next week is already booking up. Yay/boo.